2006-07 Racing Season Preview
November 3, 2006November is upon us already, and the racing season is now just weeks away. The Midwest racing scene continues to remain very healthy, with nearly 100 events and series on the calendar, making it the biggest racing scene in North America. This number has remained relatively the same, or perhaps increasing, over recent years, in large part no doubt to the very active club and community support, and encouraged along by recent projects like snowmaking as well as trail expansion.
Stars and Series
Senior Nationals, aka the US Cross-Country Ski Championships, come to the Michigan Tech trails in Houghton, Jan 3-7. These races annually feature the very best of the US racing elite, and frequently highlight the rising stars in our sport.
The national SuperTour series features three stops in the Midwest again this season with races at Mt. Itasca, Telemark, and Minneapolis. The top factory team teams should be competing again this season, offering some spectatular spectator viewing at these venues.
On the local front, the Minnesota Skinnyski Series has grown, adding the Seeley Hills Classic (across the border!), and Governor's Cup, which join the founding members, Pepsi Challenge, City of Lakes Loppet, Mora Vasaloppet and Minnesota Finlandia. The series now includes classical events, with trips to Iceland as the overall prizes again this season.
The evening race series remain a popular training event across the region. You'll find night racing in Duluth (various locations), Madison (Tyrol Basin and Elver Park), Milwaukee (Lapham Peak), and the Twin Cities (Elm Creek).
The New Kids
There are relatively few new entries on the racing calendar this season. One new event is Andes Loppet, Mar 3rd, at Andes Tower Hill near Alexandria, MN. The 20K freestyle event is part of a weekend long Scandinavian Festival. The other new race is the Valley Spur Ski Bash, Jan 20th, on the scenic Valley Spur trail system near Munising, MI. The event features some rather unique race names: 12K Stairway to Heaven and 24K Bigfoot's Revenge!
Other 'new' events: The Dec 2 Fast Track Sprints at Snowflake in Duluth, MN, replaces the now retired GAAS sprints. The Big Bay Honey Bear Classic on Feb 17 in Big Bay, MI, while making its debut on our calendar held its inaugural event last year. And after giving it brief mention in previous years, we've finally added the challenge 135 mile Arrowhead Ultramarathon, Feb 5-7, to our list of events.
And of course, monitor the web site during the season for the usual assortment of fun short-notice races, like last year's Mayor's Challenge Pre-Loppet and Black Lake Loppet.
Buff and Shine
With some major makeovers this season, a number of events could also classify as new races! Sawtooth, the great event in Grand Marais, has announced a true duathlon format event. The City of Lakes Loppet optimizes their classical race, tuning the course to 25K. The mighty American Birkebeiner has done their own major restructuring, adding 9K of new trails at the start exclusively for the classical skiers. The Blue Hills Ascent will offer a new 2K classical pursuit race in the morning, well before their usual 12K freestyle race. The retooled Grand View XC SKi Challenge now features sprints on Saturday. And the Graystone Challenge in St. Cloud has staggered their start sequences to help alleviate congestion on the course.
Some other changes are purely calendar moves: The Nordic Spirit race in Duluth has shifted from mid-February to late January, hoping to grab a break on the weather and volunteers. The fun Upstride Down race on the Noquemanon trail jumps up a couple of weeks, to early March. And the Crazy Carleton Relays in Northfield, MN, moves to mid-January, forsaking their early March date.
Saying Goodbye
A number of races have tossed in the towel for various reasons (lack of snow, lack of volunteers, lack of time, etc.). Bidding farewell this year: Frostbite Falls Ski Classic (Int'l Falls, MN), Vinterloppet (Grand Rapids, MN), Brockway Mountain Challenge (Copper Harbor, MI), Brule River Timber Cruise (Brule, WI), Volkski Classic (Bemidji, MN), and Classic Nordic Challenge (St. Paul, MN). In addition, there are currently no plans again this season to hold the evening Hyland Sprints racing series in the Twin Cities. Note: At the time of this writing, we were unable to pin down the date for the Balsam Vinter Fest.
As with years past, we are once again indebted to Joel Patenaude and Silent Sports Magazine for the great exchange of racing information. This magazine should be in your mailbox each month!
Full Calendar
So without full ado, we present the our 2006-07 racing calendar